The independent regulatory body Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has been entrusted to determine the prices of aviation fuel (jet fuel) and Furnace Oil (HFO), a responsibility previously held by the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) under statutory regulatory order.
This new regulation will take effect from October next month.
The Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources issued an official order in this regard on Wednesday.
According to the BERC Act, BERC has the authority to regulate the prices of all types of fuel, power and natural gas tariffs. However, due to delays in approving certain regulations, BPC had been handling this responsibility until now.
The Energy Regulatory Commission was established in 2003 as an impartial, quasi-judicial autonomous body through the enactment of the BERC Act.
It officially started its operations in 2009 with the aim of ensuring the accountability of gas and electricity distribution companies and protecting consumer rights. Over the years, BERC has formulated 13 regulations, but 12 others have been pending approval for over a decade. Due to the regulatory delay, BERC has only been setting gas and electricity prices.
In 2023, a sudden amendment to the law allowed for price adjustments (increases or decreases) through executive orders. As a result, BERC’s quasi-judicial role became largely redundant, as gas and electricity prices were being set by executive orders without public hearings. These hearings had previously exposed various irregularities within the utility companies, leading to increasing pressure on them. However, this process was effectively sidelined by the current government.
On August 27, 2024, the government issued a gazette, repealing the law that allowed for the setting of natural gas and electricity prices by executive order. This restores BERC’s authority to determine these prices. The amendment to Section 34(KA) of the BERC Act, which had granted the executive branch the power to set prices, has been abolished, re-establishing BERC’s exclusive role in this regard.
